


Welcome to Wherever You Are

by RoseClover



Series: Evidence of Things not Seen [1]
Category: The Avengers (2012), Thor (2011)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-09-17
Updated: 2012-09-17
Packaged: 2017-11-14 10:44:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,562
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/514402
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RoseClover/pseuds/RoseClover
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Thor came and went in a whirlwind leaving Darcy and Jane staggering in his wake.  This is the story of how Darcy came to work for S.H.I.E.L.D once the dust settled.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Welcome to Wherever You Are

**Author's Note:**

> This comes before 'Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc'. Each story stands alone but they are a part of the same universe.

Darcy loved her job. After the whole tasering a God in the New Mexico incident she stayed working with the clean-up of the town, the restoration and re-ordering of Jane's equipment (Seriously you'd think government goons could at least keep things in order but apparently not) and joined Jane in her nightly vigil as she started at the starts waiting for her mystery man. Darcy was a little sceptical about the whole love-at-first-sight thing, well love after a God feel from the sky and you ran over him a few times but she could see that Jane was hurting and she wanted to help.

She liked the last task best, while they lay out in the desert at night they talked, really talked, shared information about their pasts, their families and their hopes and dreams for a future. It was those few weeks that really cemented the friendship between the two women. Darcy had known who Jane was before applying for the internship, she wasn't stupid, but she had known of the scientist not the person. 

Dr. Jane Foster was considered crazy by some (ok most) of her colleagues and peers but if you looked closely enough you could see the brilliance of her brain ticking over. Darcy hadn't applied for the internship purely because she needed the science credits, she did it was true and it would be far more entertaining that sitting through boring labs week after week, but the main reason she applied was she went to talk to Dr. Foster about it and saw the passion in her eyes. 

Darcy wasn't a scientist, not by a long shot, but she was good at analysing information, data and finding patterns. She'd done her basic Physics and Chemistry and could hold her own in a bar room debate but Erik and Jane were discussing information that wasn't even in her galaxy, literally as it turned out. So early on, knowing she was only selected because she was the only application, she had established what her role was. She kept Jane fed and watered (harder by far than it should be), entered data into the appropriate system, produced reports, analysis and comparisons highlighting any oddities she could find and giving them to Jane to look over, sending samples and data to relevant experts back at the University. She also spent a lot of time as the human bouncing board, having to reduce her ideas to something that Darcy could understand often inspired Jane to an epiphany. Jane would stop half way through and run to her equipment muttering to herself. So before the whole Thor thing Darcy had liked Jane but she hadn't known Jane.

AT (After Thor) as they lay in the desert, she heard of Jane's past, her family, intelligent but not understanding her brilliance and her obsession that there are other worlds out there. Of trying to date guys who wanted her to leave her work behind, of her passion and need to discover knowledge, to seek the truth to find the proof. Although she still doesn't get the whole in love with a guy she's known for three days thing, Darcy respects and admires Jane.

Darcy talks about herself these nights, about growing up in a single parent household, of a distant father who showed his love by buying her all the latest gadgets but only seeing her once a year if she was lucky. She told Jane of her rebellious phase, of the boyfriend who taught her how to hack, pick locks and other useful, if slightly illegal, skills. She even told Jane of her need, her desire, and her passion to change the world, to be doing something that doesn't just pay the bills but means something, helps people. It's here that they find their common ground they both want the same thing but have different means, Jane with science, Darcy with political science. 

Eventually though the summer has to end and classes re-start at Collage and with the introduction of S.H.I.E.L.D funding and personal Jane has other assistance who are far more science savvy than she is. Agent Son of Coul (she knows his name is Coulson but she prefers Thor’s version, besides it suits him) who sole her i-pod, (he did return it in good condition though), and seemed to be in charge got her to sign a non-disclosure document. It was 20 pages long but Darcy read the whole thing in detail and asked questions of the agent when she wanted clarification. Agent Son of Coul answered in the same tone he always used but she thought she detected the slight twitch of an eye-lid that seemed to indicate he was impressed. Eventually she signed the document, she always was, despite what Agent Son of Coul or others might think there was a huge difference about posting a photo of a really hot guy on Facebook out of context and posting that you met an actual Norse God in the desert. That would only guarantee you a spot in a mental hospital or in government custody. 

So Darcy left New Mexico, hugged Jane tearfully and promised to keep in touch, exchanged solemn nods with Agent Son of Coul and returned to her normal life. It was actually easier picking up where she left off than she thought it would. When asked about her internship she spoke about how cold the desert was at night, the beauty of the stars, the insane diet and work ethics of the scientists and left out all the interesting bits. Even the most dedicated of listener’s eyes glazed over pretty quickly and no-one pushed for more information. 

She was in her last year and the work from her classes and professors soon gave her much more to think about than what happened in the desert. She kept in contact with Jane, they would exchange e-mails at least once a week but spoke only of normal things. Darcy complained about her work-load and overly demanding professors and Jane spoke of the heat of the desert. Even Agent Son of Coul would be impressed with how the e-mails avoided going anywhere near taboo topics.

Darcy's in her last weeks of classes when she gets a hurried e-mail from Jane that she's going to some research station in the middle of no-where Europe for more tests and won't be able to contact Darcy as frequently. Darcy reads and processes the e-mail without any suspicion, it's only when she's watching the battle in New York and sees Thor's cape flying and Myeu-muh hurtling through aliens that she twigs to why Jane was moved. She's only slightly offended that no-one thought to give her a heads up about a violent demi-God running around but figured she was low on the priority list.

She was glued to her TV and computer for the whole battle and the aftermath, schoolwork be dammed. She sends a quick e-mail to Jane which simply said "He's back in town." She got no reply and wasn't sure if the S.H.I.E.L.D lapdogs had even let Jane read it. Telling herself she didn't know and shouldn't get proactively pissed at S.H.I.E.L.D for playing with people's lives she focused on what she saw. Most of her classmates couldn't get over Captain America and Aliens, but after having proof of extra-terrestrial life, and monsters, Darcy was ready to believe. She thought she remembered the Archer Avenger, Hawkeye a later press release named him, from New Mexico, after a close up shot she defiantly remembered him, you don't forget biceps like that quickly. 

Eventually the dust settled and she finished her final classes and exams. Thankfully most of the professors had spent the same amount of time glued to the New York incident so extensions for class work were numerous. She was particularly proud of an essay for her political history class about the potential for factual basis of ancient mythology based on Thor’s existance. She had a watered down version of the essay half done before New York, and then she could add in detail that was in the public realm. She graduated three months after New York and had begun the tedious application process for graduate programs with government departments as well as at other universities. Her grades were good, boarding on brilliant but she didn't hold out much hope, the job market was tough and the best grad programs she couldn't really afford. 

She barely heard anything from Jane during this time. She got a few short e-mails, saying she'd finished her work in Tromso and was re-locating to New York. The only information of any importance was that Jane said she had managed to catch up with a mutual acquaintance briefly before he had had to leave town again. Darcy's heart ached for Jane when she read this message and was surprised that the S.H.I.E.L.D monitors had let it slip through. Apart from that she only knew about New York from the news and was constantly on the net trying to get details and information, with very limited success. S.H.I.E.L.D was good, very good. 

She was, therefore, surprised three months later when a S.H.I.E.L.D agent knocked on her door.


End file.
